#33. We think constantly about gut health, skincare, nutrition, and sleep - but when it comes to our mouths, most of us still think brushing our teeth twice a day is enough. What if oral care is actually one of the most overlooked pieces of whole-body wellness?

This week, Kate Yarbrough sits down with Priya Shah, co-founder of KÖPPEN, the science-backed oral wellness brand reframing how we think about the mouth - not simply as a cosmetic concern, but as a gateway to overall health. After years of personal interest in wellness and formal study across multiple health modalities, Priya became fascinated by the oral microbiome and the disconnect between its importance and the way modern oral care had been built. KÖPPEN launched with a single tongue scraper and has since grown into a full system designed to support the entire mouth through products rooted in both ancient practices and modern research.

In this conversation, Priya explains why brushing alone is an incomplete approach to oral health, what the tongue and oral microbiome can reveal about the rest of the body, and why practices rooted in Ayurveda are increasingly finding their way into mainstream wellness. She also shares how she and her brother built KÖPPEN from the ground up, why they started with a tongue scraper, how they approach ingredients and formulation, and the surprising problem with many conventional breath mints. From beautiful design to better daily rituals, Priya offers a new way to think about one of the few wellness practices we repeat every single day.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Priya's lifelong interest in health, wellness, and naturally derived remedies

• How studying different health modalities changed the way she thought about her own body and routines

• Why the mouth can be a gateway to understanding whole-body health

• The oral microbiome and why brushing your teeth is only one part of whole-mouth care

• What the tongue can potentially signal about what is happening elsewhere in the body

• How ancient practices like Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine influenced Priya's approach to oral wellness

• Why Priya and her brother believed the traditional oral care category was ready to be reimagined

• How KÖPPEN combines science, naturally derived ingredients, and thoughtful design

• Why the brand launched with a tongue scraper - and what selling out repeatedly taught them about consumer demand

• The difference between tongue scraping and using a toothbrush to clean your tongue

• How KÖPPEN evaluates ingredients with researchers, chemists, and dental professionals

• The thinking behind ingredients like hydroxyapatite, bromelain, papain, and xylitol

• Why many conventional breath mints may only temporarily mask bad breath - and how KÖPPEN approached creating a healthier alternative

• Everyday habits, including mouth breathing, that Priya believes can disrupt the oral microbiome

• Why Priya believes oral care will become a much bigger pillar of the wellness conversation over the next five years

• How Priya and her co-founder think about beauty, design, and turning everyday oral care into a ritual

• Priya's Green-ish Goal for creating more space, clarity, and connection in everyday life

#32. We all know we should wear sunscreen every day—but why do so many of us still skip it?

This week, Kate sits down with Megan Black and Eliana Field-Marsham, co-founders of SONNI, a skincare-first sun protection brand reimagining what mineral SPF can look and feel like. Built around high-performance, dermatologist-tested mineral formulas and elegant textures, SONNI is tackling one of sun care’s biggest challenges: creating products people actually want to use every day.

Before founding SONNI, Megan spent nearly four years at Estée Lauder leading global online strategy and omnichannel initiatives before earning her MBA at Kellogg. Eliana began her career at McKinsey before joining Little Spoon, where she gained firsthand experience scaling a modern consumer startup, and later earned her MBA at Stanford GSB.

In this conversation, Megan and Eliana share how a personal frustration with sunscreen became the foundation for SONNI, how their longtime friendship evolved into a co-founder partnership, and why they built the brand with retail and omnichannel distribution in mind from the very beginning. They also unpack the science behind mineral SPF, what today’s increasingly educated skincare consumer expects from brands, and the lessons they’ve learned building a company from the ground up. In this episode, we discuss:

• How Megan’s own experience with sunburns, and her sister’s melanoma diagnosis, inspired the idea for SONNI
• Why sunscreen has an experience problem and how SONNI is working to make SPF feel more like skincare
• The science behind mineral sunscreen and the formulation challenge of eliminating the traditional white cast
• How Megan and Eliana’s backgrounds at Estée Lauder, McKinsey, and Little Spoon shaped the way they built SONNI
• Why they designed the business for omnichannel distribution from day one rather than thinking purely DTC
• How their 15-year friendship evolved into a co-founder relationship, and why clear swim lanes and deep trust matter
• What they’ve learned about building consumer trust in a highly regulated, science-driven category
• Why dermatologist relationships, med spas, and trusted skincare professionals play an important role in SONNI’s growth
• How Kellogg and Stanford GSB changed the way Megan and Eliana thought about entrepreneurship, leadership, and company culture
• The unexpected reality of becoming a generalist as a founder and learning every detail of the business
• SONNI’s vision for expanding beyond traditional sun care into a broader ecosystem of skin protection and recovery
• Why increasingly educated consumers are raising the bar for science, efficacy, and transparency across beauty and skincare

Find Sonni here: https://sonniskin.com/

#31. Fertility is one of the most consequential parts of women’s health, yet for many women, it remains confusing, expensive, and difficult to plan around. What would it look like to give women greater clarity, choice, and freedom before they are ready to start a family?

This week, Kate Yarbrough sits down with Lauren Makler, co-founder and CEO of Cofertility, the platform helping women freeze and store their eggs for free when they donate half to intended parents who need an egg donor. Before launching Cofertility, Lauren spent nearly a decade at Uber, where she founded Uber Health and helped build the business to serve more than 10 million patients. Her own experience facing a rare abdominal disease, and the possibility of losing her ovaries, ultimately shaped Cofertility’s mission.

In this conversation, Lauren shares why the traditional egg donation model needed to be reimagined, how egg freezing can give women greater agency over their relationships and careers, and why fertility education should begin long before someone is ready to have a baby. She also reflects on building Uber Health from within a larger organization, staying relentless in the face of rejection, finding the right co-founder, and how motherhood has changed her approach to ambition, wellness, and risk. In this episode, we discuss:

• Lauren’s personal fertility journey and the experience that inspired Cofertility
• How Cofertility is making egg freezing more accessible through egg sharing
• Why the traditional egg donation model needed to be reimagined
• The biggest misconceptions surrounding fertility and egg freezing
• The concept of “fertility longevity” and planning from a place of abundance
• Building Uber Health from an internal pitch into a $100 million business in 18 months
• How to introduce a new idea within a larger organization
• Navigating naysayers, rejection, and the mindset of “just you wait”
• Finding the right co-founder and evolving responsibilities over time
• How Los Angeles has shaped Cofertility’s growth and community
• The ways motherhood changed Lauren’s relationship with ambition and risk

In this episode, we discuss:

#30. When Katerina Schneider became pregnant with her first daughter, she began questioning something millions of people take for granted: How do we know what is actually inside the supplements we take every day—and whether they are safe and effective?

This week, Kate sits down with Katerina, founder and CEO of Ritual, the science-backed wellness brand known for its traceable ingredients, clinical research, and commitment to transparency. She shares how she built Ritual despite investors dismissing women’s health as niche.

In this conversation, Katerina discusses building Ritual for the “healthy skeptic,” expanding from direct-to-consumer into retail, investing in women-centered clinical research, and advocating for stronger supplement regulations. She also reflects on leading the company through different stages of growth, learning to make herself irrelevant as a CEO, and what is next for Ritual and the future of women’s health. In this episode, we discuss:

• How Katerina’s first pregnancy inspired Ritual

• Building Ritual despite women’s health being dismissed as “niche”

• Creating a supplement brand for the “healthy skeptic”

• Expanding Ritual from direct-to-consumer into major retailers

• Why Ritual’s first hire was a scientist

• The lack of women-centered clinical research

• Advocating for greater transparency and supplement regulation

• Leading Ritual through growth, profitability, and scale

• Why changing your routines can change your results

• Katerina’s advice to “make yourself irrelevant”

#29. Angel investing has long felt like an exclusive club—reserved for venture capitalists, founders, or people writing six-figure checks. But what if backing the next generation of startups was far more accessible than most people realize?

This week, Kate sits down with Cheryl Kellond, founder and CEO of PlayMoney, the platform making startup investing more approachable through curated deal flow, education, and technology. Before launching PlayMoney, Cheryl built and exited companies of her own, worked at Kickstarter and AngelList, and spent years on both sides of the fundraising table. As an angel investor in PlayMoney, Kate was especially excited to explore Cheryl's perspective on the future of startup investing, venture capital, and entrepreneurship.

In this conversation, Cheryl shares why angel investing shouldn't be intimidating, how founders should think differently about fundraising, why not every company should raise venture capital, and how AI is changing both company building and investment decision-making. She also shares what she's learned from founding multiple companies, navigating failure, and helping thousands of first-time investors write their first startup checks.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Cheryl's journey from founder to angel investor to CEO of PlayMoney
• The biggest misconceptions about angel investing and accredited investors
• Why writing your first startup check is more accessible than most people think
• How PlayMoney is making startup investing easier through curated deal flow and education
• Why founders should think beyond traditional venture capital
• The concept of "founder-funding fit" and choosing the right capital for your business
• Lessons from building and exiting multiple startups across hardware, healthcare, and fintech
• What Cheryl looks for when evaluating early-stage founders and companies
• How AI is reshaping entrepreneurship, investing, and startup diligence
• Why building local startup ecosystems and local capital matters for innovation
• Cheryl's perspective on wellness, balance, and designing a life alongside entrepreneurship
• Cheryl's Green-ish Goal for anyone looking to begin investing earlier in life

#28. Beauty and wellness are evolving faster than ever before—but what's actually driving the industry's next chapter? Is it innovation, community, science... or the consumer?

This week, Kate sits down with Lindy Firstenberg, Co-Lead of the Beauty, Health & Wellness Practice at AlixPartners. From helping launch Louis Vuitton Fragrance to advising founders, retailers, investors, and global brands, Lindy has spent her career at the forefront of the industry's biggest shifts. Now, she's stepping into entrepreneurship herself, co-founding a science-backed scar repair company built around breakthrough biotechnology.

In this conversation, Lindy shares her perspective on where beauty, health, and wellness are headed, why today's consumers are more informed than ever, and the lessons she's learned through building businesses, navigating serious illness, and redefining what it means to live well.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Lindy's unconventional path from NASA to Louis Vuitton to AlixPartners

• The biggest shifts shaping the future of beauty, health, and wellness

• Why today's "Consumer PhD" is changing how brands must build trust

• The most common mistakes founders make when scaling consumer brands

• How retailers and brands should think differently about marketing, distribution, and community

• Why content, peer recommendations, and clienteling matter more than traditional influencer marketing

• The inspiration behind Lindy's new science-backed scar repair company

• What building a company alongside her husband has taught her about entrepreneurship and partnership

• How surviving a life-threatening illness reshaped her perspective on ambition, purpose, and risk

• The future of wellness, longevity, personalized health, and clinical validation in consumer products

#27. The art world can often feel intimidating and inaccessible, but what if collecting art was less about exclusivity and more about curiosity, storytelling, and developing your own eye?

This week, Kate sits down with Caroline Yarbrough, a Contemporary Cataloguer at Sotheby's and former Division I athlete at Davidson College, to demystify the world of fine art. From building a career at one of the world's most iconic auction houses to helping collectors navigate an ever-evolving market, Caroline shares what it really takes to succeed in the art world, and how anyone can become a collector.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Caroline broke into the art world and built a career at Sotheby's
• What really happens behind the scenes at a global auction house
• Whether art should be viewed as an investment—and how collectors think about value
• The biggest misconceptions people have about buying and collecting art
• How to develop your eye and personal taste, even if you're just starting out
• The parallels between being a Division I athlete and succeeding in a high-performance career
• The differences between wellness culture in New York City and Los Angeles—and what each city gets right
• Emerging trends among the next generation of collectors
• Caroline's favorite museums, artists, and where she'd recommend aspiring collectors begin

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Let's chat! Email us at contact@agreenishlife.com.

#26. A sincere apology is necessary, but girls tend to overuse this phrase as a knee-jerk reaction. Ari & Kate talk about why we need to shift to a narrative of abundance—and release the need for validation, people-pleasing and FOMO.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Ari and Kate’s experiences with the “sorry” dialogue
• The science behind our overuse of the phrase—and how to train your brain to stop taking on blame
• The language you can use to replace “sorry,” which also builds confidence
• “The confidence gap” and how this concept manifests in low performance in work and insecurity in relationships
• Our tangible tips for “mind priming” to move forward without self-minimization

In our last episode of Season 2, we also recap our favorite + most surprising moments from the season! Follow @greenisshh to stay up to date on Season 3 launches and more special surprises….

RESOURCES

Study on the Confidence Gap

Study on Why Women Apologize More Than Men: gender differences in thresholds for perceiving offensive behavior

How Women Can Stop Apologizing And Take Their Power Back

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Tune in every other Wednesday at 7am PT / 10am ET for your dose of greens.

Let's chat! Email us at contact@agreenishlife.com.